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If anyone were to ask me when I thought the greatest era of motor racing was, I would probably have to give my apologies to Ray Harroun, Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Billy Vukovich, Jim Clark, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Tom Kristensen, and say that the greatest era of motor racing was between 1969 and 1971. This is largely because of the two cars seen here.

On the right we have the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, which was just about the pinnacle of factory racing cars from the Big Three. The street version had 375 hp with the standard 440 cubic inch engine and (at least) 425 hp with the optional 426 Hemi engine. The racing version lapped Talladega at 200 mph in March 1970 with Buddy Baker at the wheel. It was probably one of the most unbelievable cars that someone could buy and drive on the street.

...and, of these two cars, it is the tame one!

Apart from two of them that had been extensively modified by very wealthy owners, one could *not* drive the Porsche 917 on the street, despite it meeting the 1969-71 sports racing rules as a "production car". All that meant was that Porsche had made at least 25 of them. The engine had much less displacement than the Daytona's Hemi (5 litres against the 7.2 litre Hemi) but it was an all-out racing engine with twelve cylinders and double overhead camshafts. As a result, the 917's engine made 630 hp, dwarfing the Hemi's official 425 hp output and, it is believed, rather close to the Hemi's real power output. However, the 917's power only had to push about 800 kg plus fuel and driver, while the Daytona without fuel or driver weighed about 1700 kg, more than twice that of the purpose-built race car. This propelled the shorter, lighter, and possibly lower-drag car to speeds of 220 mph, rather faster than the astoundingly fast 200 mph Daytona.

However, there is something a bit wrong with the picture. The 917 shown is not a 1969 car. Neither the short-tail 917K version nor the partnership with John Wyer's Gulf Racing team were in place until 1970, so the Gulf-Porsche 917K shown here wouldn't have been around in 1969. The Gulf colours are the most famous 917 livery, though, and the 917K, although slower than the LH, was the version that won in 1970 and 1971.

The ultimate version of the 917 was the 917-30. With displacement increased to 5.4 L and with a pair of turbochargers pumping even more air in, it made about 1100 hp in racing trim with about 1500 hp or more available for qualifying. This was done for Can-Am racing, and mostly for Mark Donohue; I'm not sure anyone else ever raced the 917-30.

If you got through this boring lecture, then !

Description
If anyone were to ask me when I thought the greatest era of motor racing was, I would probably have to give my apologies to Ray Harroun, Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Billy Vukovich, Jim Clark, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Tom Kristensen, and say that the greatest era of motor racing was between 1969 and 1971. This is largely because of the two cars seen here.

On the right we have the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, which was just about the pinnacle of factory racing cars from the Big Three. The street version had 375 hp with the standard 440 cubic inch engine and (at least) 425 hp with the optional 426 Hemi engine. The racing version lapped Talladega at 200 mph in March 1970 with Buddy Baker at the wheel. It was probably one of the most unbelievable cars that someone could buy and drive on the street.

...and, of these two cars, it is the tame one!

Apart from two of them that had been extensively modified by very wealthy owners, one could *not* drive the Porsche 917 on the street, despite it meeting the 1969-71 sports racing rules as a "production car". All that meant was that Porsche had made at least 25 of them. The engine had much less displacement than the Daytona's Hemi (5 litres against the 7.2 litre Hemi) but it was an all-out racing engine with twelve cylinders and double overhead camshafts. As a result, the 917's engine made 630 hp, dwarfing the Hemi's official 425 hp output and, it is believed, rather close to the Hemi's real power output. However, the 917's power only had to push about 800 kg plus fuel and driver, while the Daytona without fuel or driver weighed about 1700 kg, more than twice that of the purpose-built race car. This propelled the shorter, lighter, and possibly lower-drag car to speeds of 220 mph, rather faster than the astoundingly fast 200 mph Daytona.

However, there is something a bit wrong with the picture. The 917 shown is not a 1969 car. Neither the short-tail 917K version nor the partnership with John Wyer's Gulf Racing team were in place until 1970, so the Gulf-Porsche 917K shown here wouldn't have been around in 1969. The Gulf colours are the most famous 917 livery, though, and the 917K, although slower than the LH, was the version that won in 1970 and 1971.

The ultimate version of the 917 was the 917-30. With displacement increased to 5.4 L and with a pair of turbochargers pumping even more air in, it made about 1100 hp in racing trim with about 1500 hp or more available for qualifying. This was done for Can-Am racing, and mostly for Mark Donohue; I'm not sure anyone else ever raced the 917-30.

If you got through this boring lecture, then !